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Consultation on the rescheduling of ketamine under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001

In December 2013 the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) published advice on ketamine available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ketamine-report following a review commissioned by the Home Secretary. The ACMD recommended that in light of evidence of long term acute harms, including irreversible bladder damage, from ketamine misuse ketamine should be reclassified to Class B under the 1971 Act and, subject to a public consultation, rescheduled to Schedule 2 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. The Minister for Crime Prevention accepted the ACMD advice and on 10 June 2014 ketamine was reclassified as a Class B drug.

The twelve week public consultation on the appropriate schedule in which ketamine should be listed has been launched today 8 August 2014 and will run until 3 November 2014. An online response page will be available for anyone with a preference to respond online. The consultation document and consultation stage impact assessment is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/ketamine-rescheduling-consultation.

The Home Office is interested to hear the views of the public, especially health and veterinary organisations and professionals, on the appropriate schedule in which ketamine should be listed. A final decision on the schedule in which ketamine should be listed will be made by the Minister after the public consultation. Until then ketamine remains a Schedule 4 Part 1 drug.